10 Truths and a Dare

 Book 23 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read on February 21

10 Truths and a Dare by Ashley Elston

published 2021

Summary (via the book jacket)

It's Senior Party Week, that magical in-between time after classes have ended but before graduation, chock full of gimmicky theme parties, last-minute bonding, and family traditions. Olivia couldn't be more ready. Class salutatorian and confident in her future at LSU, she's poised to sail through to the next phase of her life.

But when the tiny hiccup of an unsigned PE form puts Olivia in danger of not graduating at all, she has one week to set things straight without tipping off her big, nosy extended family. Volunteering at a local golf tournament should do it, but since Olivia's mom equipped her phone with a tracking app, there'll be no hiding the fact that she's at the golf course instead of all the graduation parties happening at the same time. Unless, that is, she can convince the rest of the Fab Four - her ride-or-die cousins and best friends Sophie, Charlie, and Wes - to trade phones with her and go through the motions of playing Olivia for the week.

Sure, Olivia's sudden "passion" for golf is met with some suspicion. And sure, her grasp of the rules is a little shaky. And yes, okay, a very cute, very off-limits boy keeps popping up in her orbit. But she is focused! She has a schedule and a plan! Nothing can possibly go wrong...right?

My Opinion

4 stars

First, a note about the acknowledgements.  The author dedicated this book to the classes of 2020 and 2021 and talked about the bittersweetness of finishing this book at the beginning of lockdown in Spring 2020, writing about all the traditions and events of a high school graduation as her own son was a senior not able to experience these things.  I also had a 2020 graduate and can remember very vividly the delays turning into cancellations and trying to navigate those emotions.

On to the book itself.  One of my kids read it in a day after checking it out from the library and she gave it to me thinking I would read it quickly as well.  I definitely did, also reading it in a few hours, but I have to say that if she hadn't been pushing me along, I probably wouldn't have picked this book for myself.  I have a low tolerance for situations getting out of hand unnecessarily so I had to keep asking her, "does this level out? is it going to be okay? am I going to be mad?"  She reassured me that it would be okay, and it was.

So why the 4 stars?  Because even when I was aggravated I was still reading and I know I'm not the demographic for this book either in age or in temperament.  And I liked the characters and setting.  

This was a quick read with a "High School Musical" vibe, situations that felt overwhelming in the moment but with an underlying tone that it will all work out.

**Note: as I went to add my review on Goodreads, I see this is actually the second book featuring this family.  I will definitely tell my daughter about the first but haven't decided for myself if I want to dive in again.

Leg

 Book 22 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 15 - 19

Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew From It 

by Greg Marshall

published 2023

Summary (via the book jacket)

Greg Marshall's early years were pretty bizarre. Rewind the VHS tapes (this is the nineties) and you'll see a lopsided teenager limping across a high school stage, or in a wheelchair after leg surgeries, pondering why he's crushing on half of the Utah Jazz. Add to this home video footage of a mom clacking away at her newspaper column between chemos, a dad with ALS, and a cast of foulmouthed siblings. Fast-forward the tape and you'll find Marshall happily settled into his life as a gay man, only to discover he's been living in another closet his whole life: He has cerebral palsy, a diagnosis that has been kept from him since birth. (His parents always told him he just had "tight tendons" and left it at that.) Here, in the hot mess of it all, lies Greg Marshall's wellspring of wit and wisdom.

My Opinion

3 stars

I picked this up from the library after seeing it in Bookpage.

Have you ever told a funny or quirky story from your childhood only to be met with a shocked or pitying reaction instead of laughter, making you realize your childhood isn't as typical or sunny as you thought it was?  That's how this whole book felt to me.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

 Book 21 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 15 - 17

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Summary (via the book jacket)

Reclusive Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant to write her story, no one is more astounded than Monique herself.

Determined to use this opportunity to jump-start her career, Monique listens in fascination. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to leaving show business in the '80s - and of course, the seven husbands along the way - Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. But as Evelyn's story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique's own in tragic and irreversible ways.

My Opinion

5 stars

DAMN.  It's been awhile since a book has ripped my heart out so unexpectedly.  I knew I was invested but wasn't prepared for the gut punch.  I'm glad 2 of my daughters have also read this so I have someone to talk about it with.

You Could Make This Place Beautiful

 Book 20 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 10 - 15

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

published 2023

Summary (via Goodreads)

In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. 

The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy she’s known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page, they build into a larger interrogation of family, work, and patriarchy.

My Opinion

4 stars

I added this book to my 'to-read' list after seeing it in Booklist.

I wavered between 3 and 4 stars but rounded up to 4 because of the beautiful lyricism.

I can't explain why I wavered without being a little mean-spirited, something I especially don't enjoy doing when reviewing memoirs.  But my feeling after reading this is that the author avoided delving into subjects further when she didn't want to by saying she was protecting someone or it wasn't her story to tell or something that would sound perfectly reasonable if she didn't also spend pages alluding to the same things.  For example, mentioning multiple times how bitter and contentious the divorce was but saying it's not your place to air it out leaves the reader to draw negative conclusions without the author getting her hands dirty.  We know her ex-husband joined a dating app and moved in with a woman but the author says she won't talk about her own post-divorce dating/sex life (while also coyly saying that she will say everything gets better with age, yet another subtle dig at her ex).

So I liked the writing but I also felt manipulated.

The World's Worst Serial Killers

 Book 19 of my Reading Challenge

read from February 1 - 12

The World's Worst Serial Killers: Shocking Crimes and Unspeakable Murders

by Al Cimino

published 2024

Summary (via the book jacket)

Serial killers are the most terrifying criminals out there. They find themselves driven to kill and kill again, and no amount of reason or logic can stop their orgy of violence. Many masquerade as ordinary members of society. The body counts continue to rise until their shocking crimes are uncovered by dogged detective work or through their own mistakes.

This collection features more than 60 of the most evil serial killers from across the globe, including:

 - John Wayne Gacy, who worked part-time as a clown for children's birthday parties while in secret took home teenage boys to abuse and kill;

 - Ted Bundy, who charmed women into returning home with him before revealing his true self;

 - Charles Manson, who led a cult of death and destruction in Los Angeles;

 - Tamara Samsonova, the 'Granny Ripper' who chopped up her victims and dumped them outside her flat;

 - and Daniel Carmago Barbosa, the most prolific serial killer of all time, with more than 150 victims.

My Opinion

4 stars

This book was an impulse buy while browsing.  Even though it's hefty it's digestible, with a few pages devoted to each person and pictures throughout the book.

This was a good book but one I could only read a little at a time before it started affecting me, especially at night.  It wasn't overly gruesome but it was graphic and reading page after page of depravity was tough.  There were so many serial killers in this book, I had no idea so many different people were able to murder for years and years before being caught.  

It's frustrating how many times the killer would be on the police's radar yet still able to continue killing, sometimes even for years.  At first I thought this was the reason this book was hitting me so hard, because of the seemingly unnecessary deaths if they'd been stopped sooner, but then as I continued reading a new layer of this discomfort hit me.  I realized so many of these killers are white and I feel that's a major contributing factor to why they would be questioned and let go, or flimsy excuses/alibis would be accepted, or they would be found guilty but put on probation, etc.  How many minority suspects have been jailed and/or lynched for much much less evidence?

A Constellation of Minor Bears

 Book 18 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 5 - 10

A Constellation of Minor Bears by Jen Ferguson

published 2024

Summary (via the book jacket)

Before that awful Saturday, Molly used to be inseparable from her brother, Hank, and his best friend, Tray. The indoor climbing accident that left Hank with a traumatic brain injury filled Molly with anger. While she knows the accident wasn't Tray's fault, she will never forgive him for being there and failing to stop the damage.

But she can't forgive herself for not being there either. Or for letting the deadline to accept her university entrance offer pass.

Determined to go on the trio's postgraduation hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, even without Hank, Molly packs her bag. But when her parents put Tray in charge of looking out for her, she is stuck backpacking with the person who incites her easy anger.

Despite all her planning, the trail she'll walk has a few more twists and turns ahead.

My Opinion

4 stars

I picked this book up on a whim from a display of diverse books at a library.  Saying it took 5 days to read is correct but not the full picture...the only reason it took so many days is because I would become so absorbed so quickly that I didn't want to read it unless I had time to devote to it.  I would say it's a 2-3 sittings book if you have time.

It's a very very high 4 but I just couldn't get to a 5 after the second round of Brynn and how it was resolved.  The plot twist before she left was outstanding and I was happy to see her again but the seriousness of the situation didn't mix with the off-camera quick resolution in my mind.

I will definitely read this author again.

I've Tried Being Nice

 Book 17 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 5- 7

I've Tried Being Nice by Ann Leary

published 2024

Summary (via the book jacket)

Having arrived at a certain age (her prime), Ann Leary casts a wry backward glance at a life spent trying - and often failing - to be nice. With wit and surprising candor, Leary recounts the bedlam of home bat invasions, an obsession with online personality tests, and the mortification of taking ballroom dance lessons with her actor husband. She describes hilarious red-carpet fiascos and other observations from the sidelines of fame, while also touching on her more poignant struggles with alcoholism, her love for her family, her dogs, and so much more.

Prepare to laugh, cry, cringe, and revel in the comically relatable chaos or Ann Leary's life as revealed in this delightful collection of essays. 

My Opinion

5 stars

I picked up this book while browsing at the library.  A catchy, relatable title of a book of personal essays?  Sold.

I was engaged from the opening paragraphs of the first essay when she described an agent giving her feedback on her first project.  He said he wished the narrator was more likable and she wrote back that she agreed but unfortunately, her book was a memoir and she was the narrator so that probably wasn't an option.  Hilarious.

This was rare because as open and honest as she was about herself, she didn't really "expose" her children or husband.  That was refreshing both to read about a wife/mother that actually focuses on herself when writing essays about her life and as someone that usually feels a tinge of sympathy for people in an author's orbit that don't have a choice about their stories being told.

I didn't know anyone would be able to out-empathize me but the way she talked about animals, especially the bats in her attic, made even me give pause.

I'm adding her book, An Innocent, A Broad to my 'to-read' list immediately.

Quote from the Book

"I've gone through life flailing about aimlessly, trying to figure out how to behave in various situations. I didn't know it, but it turns out, I'm a "rules" person. I just often don't know the rules."

Love in the Blitz

 Book 16 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 19 - February 5

Love in the Blitz: The War Letters of Eileen Alexander to Gershon Ellenbogan

by Eileen Alexander

published 2020

Summary (via Goodreads)

On July 17th 1939, Eileen Alexander, a bright young woman recently graduated from Girton College, Cambridge, begins a brilliant correspondence with fellow Cambridge student Gershon Ellenbogen that lasts five years and spans many hundreds of letters. But as Eileen and Gershon’s relationship flourishes from friendship and admiration into passion and love, the tensions between Germany, Russia, and the rest of Europe reach a crescendo. When war is declared, Gershon heads for Cairo and Eileen forgoes her studies to work in the Air Ministry.  

As cinematic as Atonement, written with the intimacy of the Neapolitan quartet, Love in the Blitz is an extraordinary glimpse of life in London during World War II and an illuminating portrait of an ordinary young woman trying to carve a place for herself in a time of uncertainty. As the Luftwaffe begins its bombardment of England, Eileen, like her fellow Britons, carries on while her loved ones are called up to fight, some never to return home.

Written over the course of the conflict, Eileen’s letters provide a vivid and personal glimpse of this historic era. Yet throughout the turmoil and bloodshed, one thing remains her beloved Gershon, who remains a source of strength and support, even after he, too, joins the fighting. Though his letters have been lost to time, the bolstering force of his love for Eileen is illuminated in her responses to him.Equal parts heartrending and heartwarming, Love in the Blitz is a timeless romance and a deeply personal story of life and resilience amid the violence and terror of war.

My Opinion 

3 stars

I like that Eileen is listed as the author even though this book was put together years later after David McGowan randomly bought a collection of letters off of eBay.  I also like that they found and got permission from Eileen's grandchildren before publishing.  There were also quite a few photos in the book, some from the family's personal collection.

What a prolific writer Eileen was!  These letters would be a treasure to her family as well as researchers of that time.  They may be less of a treasure to relatives of the friends/coworkers she wrote about, as many of her opinions about their life/appearance/morals etc. were fairly harsh.  It makes me wonder if she was as outspoken to their faces as she was in her letters.

It felt longer than it actually was and that showed in how many days it took me to read it.  On the bright side, when I'm not fully engaged in a book I spend more time than usual on the little tasks that are easy to put off until another day...I accomplished a lot over the past week!

Christine Falls

 Book 15 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 26 - February 1

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black

published 2006

Summary (via the book jacket)

Quirke and Malachi Griffin were raised as brothers, though Quirke - rescued from an Irish orphanage by Malachy's father, the eminent Judge Garrett Griffin - was always the favored son. But Malachi married the American girl Quirke loved, and Quirke settled for her sister, who died in childbirth soon thereafter. Malachi went on to become a prominent obstetrician and Quirke a hard-drinking pathologist, and for the past twenty years the two have coexisted uneasily as brothers-in-law as well as rivals.

Then one night, after a few drinks at an office party, Quirke shuffles down to the morgue and discovers Malachi altering a file he has no business ever reading. Odd enough in itself to find him there, but the next morning, when the haze has lifted, Quirke begins to suspect that his brother-in-law was in fact tampering with a corpse - and concealing the cause of death. It turns out the body belonged to a young woman named Christine Falls. And as Quirke reluctantly presses on toward the truth behind her death, he comes up against some insidious and very well guarded secrets of Dublin's high Catholic society - which includes members of the Griffin family. But when he is urged - at first subtly and then with considerable violence - to probe no further, he nevertheless finds himself drawn inexorably down a trail that leads him across the ocean to Boston, and deep into his own past.

My Opinion

4 stars

As I read I couldn't shake the feeling that it was very familiar.  The book was published in 2006, years before I started tracking my books on Goodreads, so I considered the very real possibility that I'd actually already read it.  But I don't remember books well so I continued on and by the time I hit some plot twists I was genuinely shocked.  So I don't think I've read it before and maybe the familiarity was from similar themes or settings...a hard drinking pathologist faces his demons and his family.

Somebody who read this book before me (a library copy) made many notes in the margins.  That reader was making literary connections I wasn't, reminding me that I read on a fairly superficial level and there are people who really dig in and analyze books, even silly mysteries like this one.

I'm not interested in continuing the series but I did read the summaries on Goodreads for the rest of them; they gave quite a bit away so I know which characters die and which relationships continue.  That's good enough for me.

I Will Do Better

 Book 14 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 26 - 31

I Will Do Better: A Father's Memoir of Heartbreak, Parenting, and Love 

by Charles Bock

published 2024

Summary (via the book jacket)

The novelist Charlie Bock was a reluctant parent, tagging along for the ride of fatherhood, obsessed primarily with his dream of a writing career. But when his daughter Lily was six months old, his wife, Diana, was diagnosed with a complex form of leukemia. Two and a half years later, when all treatments and therapies had been exhausted, Bock found himself a widower - devastated, drowning in medical bills, and saddled with a daunting responsibility. He had to nurture Lily and, somehow, maybe even heal himself.

I Will Do Better is his pull-no-punches account of what happens next. Playdates, music classes, temper tantrums, oh-so-cool babysitters, first days at school, family reunions, single-parent dating, and a crippling city-wide natural disaster were minefields especially treacherous for Charles and Lily because of their preexisting vulnerability: their grief. Charles sought help from friends, family, and therapists, but this overgrown middle-aged boy-man and this plucky child became, foremost, a duo - they found their way together.

My Opinion

2 stars

For marketing purposes, I added this book to my 'to-read' list after seeing it in People Magazine.

Reviews of memoirs make me uncomfortable, especially if I'm skewing negative.  But I start with the caveat that I'm not judging the experiences themselves, I'm judging the way they were written about which is something the author can expect after publishing a book.

Sooo...this was a tough read.  I expected it to be tough based on the subject matter but it was tough for other reasons instead.  Although he was incredibly incredibly honest on his negative feelings there wasn't a balance of positive feelings/redemption.  I'm not expecting him to magically change fundamental personality traits but the title of the book is I Will Do Better...does he feel he did (and still is as Lily was 13 at the time of publishing)?  Also he did a current update/epilogue but didn't mention having another child?  His author bio mentioned that he has two daughters...I would've loved a little insight into his thoughts after reading so much about how he didn't want to have kids at all but reluctantly had Lily because his wife wanted to be a mother.

Grieving doesn't take away from the unpleasantness of him talking about the women around him.  Besides seeing two women, 'A' and 'Z', at the same time and not telling them, he dismissed them as "Whichever Letter" when recapping the month spent without his daughter as though they were interchangeable.  

An interesting note: his story isn't the first time I've read about widows/widowers tasting their spouses' ashes.  I'm guessing it's more common but untalked about than people may think.

Basically, if he'd never wanted to share anything that is completely his right.  But if he's taking the time to write a memoir about this time and around this subject, a fuller picture and more introspection would've been appreciated.

Quote From the Book

"I wished I would have gotten to see the powerhouse mom my wife would have become."

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good

 Book 13 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read on January 26

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten

published 2018

Summary (excerpt from Goodreads)

Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and…no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home.

My Opinion

5 stars

This little book about an elderly vigilante was entertaining.  It took me less than an hour to read, and having short stories instead of one full mystery kept the pace.

There's a second book that I will definitely read and if they aren't too difficult to find, I would read other series by this author as well (she's Swedish so they might not be easily available).

The Day I Wore My Panties Inside Out

Book 12 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 19 - 24

The Day I Wore My Panties Inside Out by Jen Tucker

published 2011

Summary (via Goodreads)

Some days are better than others. Have you ever had one of those days where you felt like you just could not catch a break? Author Jen Tucker had one of those and shares every bit of it in her new memoir, The Day I Wore my Panties Inside Out with humor and a bit of sass.

My Opinion

2 stars

This is a low 2 stars but I wasn't comfortable rating it 1 star because I'm finally reading this after it's been on my 'to-read' list since early 2013.  My interests have changed a lot in 12 years and I know I wouldn't have picked this book up if I'd seen it for the first time today so I'm not going to completely ding the author for writing something I didn't enjoy.  But I also don't think my opinion should be dismissed because I do enjoy "mommy blogger" content sometimes even if I don't seek it out so there was potential for me to like this.  Unfortunately, I just didn't.

This was also unexpectedly religious which isn't my jam.  Talking about God doesn't bother me, especially in a memoir because that's her path, but when it intersects with medical diagnoses and treatments it makes me uncomfortable.  Again, just my personal feelings so I'm not going to 1 star it but there were no indications faith was a strong factor in her life so I'm going to point it out as a reader that was surprised.

And as long as I'm being nitpicky, the wrong "too/to" was used more than once along with other grammatical errors.  I think you can tell that I was skimming most of the time so if I noticed it as a casual reader, an editor should've too.

How to Buy a Love of Reading

 Book 11 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 16 - 21

How to Buy a Love of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson

published 2009

Summary (via the book jacket)

To Carley Wells, words are the enemy. Her tutor's innumerable SAT flashcards. Her personal trainer's "fifty-seven pounds overweight" assessment. And the endless assignments from her English teacher, Mr. Nagel. When Nagel reports to her parents that she has answered the question "What is your favorite book?" with "Never met one I liked," they decide to fix what he calls her "intellectual impoverishment." They will commission a book to be written just for her - one she'll have to love - that will impress her teacher and the whole town of Fox Glen with their family's devotion to the arts. They will be patrons - the Medicis of Long Island. They will buy their daughter the love of reading.

Impossible though it is for Carley to imagine loving books, she is in love with a young bibliophile who cares about them more than anything. Anything, that is, but a good bottle of scotch. Hunter Cay, Carley's best friend and Fox Glen's resident golden boy, is becoming a stranger to her lately as he drowns himself in F. Scott Fitzgerald, booze, and Vicodin.

When the Wellses move writer Bree McEnroy - author of a failed meta-novel about Odysseus's journey home through the Internet - into their mansion to write Carley's book, Carley's sole interest in the project is to distract Hunter from drinking and give them something to share. But as Hunter's behavior becomes erratic and dangerous, she finds herself increasingly drawn into the fictional world Bree has created, and begins to understand for the first time the power of stories - those we read, those we want to believe in, and most of all, those we tell ourselves about ourselves. Stories powerful enough to destroy a person. Or save her.

My Opinion

5 stars

The title caught my eye while browsing at the library and even though the summary gave me a moment's pause that too many things were being tried in one plot, I decided to give it a try.  The emotions snuck up on me and I didn't realize until after it was over that I considered it a 5 star read, even though I still can't succinctly describe all the plots going on.

  

It was a "just one more chapter" kind of book and the ending made me sigh in a perfect way even though it was sad.  As I read I was so frustrated and angry at the self-destruction but it made it easier that it felt like a controlled environment; characters really didn't seem to be destroying anyone but themselves until everything fell apart.  I was fully invested and never bored.

Quote from the Book

"There are people that understand life the first time through. They grasp what someone's saying when it's said. Read stories into gestures and expressions. Draw out moments, slow down time. Shape what happens as it happens, sculptors of their lives.

Carley Wells was no sculptor. Only after a moment had already set - past changing, past tense - could she ever get her hands around it."

The Best American Essays 2015

Book 10 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 11 - 18

The Best American Essays 2015

My Opinion

4 stars

When reading books with multiple authors I usually write a line or two about each story but since essays are short I marked down a rating for each one as I read so I could get a feel for how I felt about the book overall.  There were 12 in the 2-3 area and 16 in the 4-5 so I went with 4 stars.

In the essay A Man and His Cat, he described his kitten as being so small his "friend Kevin could fit her whole head in his mouth."  Why is that a unit of measurement?  It made me laugh.

My favorite essay was It Will Look Like a Sunset by Kelly Sundberg.

Witchcraft

 Book 9 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 10 - 17

Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials by Marion Gibson

published 2023

Summary (via the book jacket)

Once a tool invented by demonologists to hurt and silence their enemies, witch trials have been twisted and transformed over the course of history and the lines between witch and witch-hunter blurred.

In Witchcraft, Professor Marion Gibson uses thirteen significant trials to tell the fascinating global history of witchcraft and withs-hunts from the Middle Ages to the present day. Placing the 'witches' front and centre, Gibson pays tribute to history's marginalized and demonized and offers fresh perspectives on trials familiar to us, challenging our perception of what a witch-hunt looks like. For the fortunate, it is just a metaphor, but, as this book makes clear, witches are truly still on trial.

My Opinion

3 stars

I received this book for Christmas (one of many with a witchcraft theme) after picking it out on vacation last fall; this was from a little bookstore in Bath.  

Whenever I think of witches I think of the line, "they didn't burn witches, they burned women" which helps me keep perspective.  The dichotomy of viewing women as powerless and lesser-than while at the same time viewing them powerful enough to affect weather, health, etc. when blaming them for misfortune was maddening to read about.

Although it was hard to read about, there was a barrier of comfort thinking that I was revisiting historical events and witch trials were so far in the past.  Then we kept moving forward in time and I was shocked at how current these experiences still are.  To throw out a few stats, 132 "magical murders" were reported in Uganda between 2019 and 2021, in four months of 2021 a single province in the Democratic Republic of Congo saw 324 accusations of witchcraft (with 8 women murdered), and Guatemala saw traditional healers being targeted and killed as recently as 2021.  The information about children being sent to "witch camps" was especially heartbreaking. 

Night of the Living Trekkies

 Book 8 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 13 - 15

Night of the Living Trekkies

by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall

published 2010

Summary (via the book jacket)

Jim Pike was the world's biggest Star Trek fan - until two tours of duty in Afghanistan destroyed his faith in the human race. Now he sleepwalks through life as the assistant manager of a small hotel in downtown Houston.

But when hundreds of Trekkies arrive in his lobby for a science-fiction convention, Jim finds himself surrounded by costumed Klingons, Vulcans, and Ferengi - plus a strange virus that transforms its carriers into save, flesh-eating zombies!

As bloody corpses stumble to life and the planet teeters on the brink of total apocalypse, Jim must deliver a ragtag crew of fanboys and fangirls to safety. Dressed in homemade uniforms and armed with prop phasers, their prime directive is to survive. But how long can they last in the ultimate no-win scenario?

My Opinion

4 stars

What a quick, fun read!  It caught my eye while browsing at the library.  My husband is a big sci-fi guy and while I'm not seeking it out for myself, I've picked up enough to get the main characters and jokes.  I'm sure there were things I missed but there was enough to keep me entertained and more importantly, it didn't veer too far into the other direction of "jokes upon jokes upon jokes".

I liked the short chapters and how the action started right away.  I didn't realize until I'd already written "I'm immediately a Willy fan" in my notes that I made my own unintentional pun.  But I did like all the characters and am sad by how many we lost along the way.

This seems like a nerd thing to point out but that goes with the theme of the book...at the beginning of Chapter 28 it said it was nearly five o'clock with no time to waste but a few pages later after passing out weapons and assembling, it said they were well-prepared at "five minutes to four", appearing to go back in time.

My Favorite Thing is Monsters

 Book 7 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 10 - 11

My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris

published 2016

My Opinion

5 stars

Typically I would include a brief summary of the book but this book is difficult to concisely describe.  I will say if this book calls to you, give it a try and you won't be disappointed.

I love the oversized book because it adds so much detail and speaking of details, having the pages appear like lined notebook paper really made it feel like I picked up someone's doodle journal (although just saying these are "doodles" underestimates the drawing).  The downside is there was so much going on that I had to purposefully slow down and take breaks to avoid overstimulation.  There weren't natural stopping places so it literally was 416 pages of content (according to Goodreads, there weren't page numbers in the book).

The storyline kept things moving but the design is really the star of the show.  I wish I understood more about the ending but I think it's a combination of things I missed and having a cliffhanger to go into the next volume.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead

 Book 6 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 10 - 11

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead by Jenny Hollander

published 2024

Summary (via the book jacket)

Nine years ago, with the world's eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled. The press and the police called her a "witness" to the terrible events that took place at her elite graduate school. But Charlie knew there was more to her story - if only she could make sense of how it all unfolded.

Now Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life. She's the editor of chief of a major magazine, the fiancee of the heir to a publishing dynasty, and hell-bent on never letting her guard down again. But when a film adaptation of what became known as "Scarlet Christmas" - the bloody scene that transpired on that fateful Christmas Eve - threatens to shatter Charlie's world, her haunting memories surge back with unprecedented clarity. No truth has ever been more dangerous that the one that hides in her own mind.

With everything at stake, Charlie must decide how far she will go to prevent her past from colliding with her seemingly perfect present.

My Opinion

3 stars

I chose this based on title alone.  It's tough to rate because I didn't necessarily enjoy it but I also kept picking it up and reading it quickly because I wanted to find out what happened.  I decided on 3 stars to balance it out.

The setting of journalism school and the access of money made situations less coincidental that they may have been otherwise but there were still contrived moments.  The mix of Charlie not remembering yet also knowing she had something to hide was difficult to reconcile.

There were also one character's death that I'm still unclear on and it's unsatisfying.

Love Is My Favorite Flavor

 Book 5 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 6 - 10

Love Is My Favorite Flavor: A Midwestern Dining Critic Tell All 

by Wini Moranville

published 2024

Summary (via the book jacket)

In a remarkable career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Wini Moranville has witnessed the American restaurant landscape transform from the inside out. At just shy of fourteen, she began a ten-year stretch working in a kaleidoscope of quintessential midwestern eateries of the time. Moranvilles hands-on experiences weave a vivid tapestry of the American restaurant landscape in the 1970s and 1980s. In the mid-1990s, the tables turned as Moranville became a prolific food and wine writer for national publications, as well as the dining critic for the Des Moines Register and dsm Magazine. 

Love Is My Favorite Flavor underscores the timelessness of what it is we seek when we entrust restaurateurs with our hard-earned money and our hard-won leisure time.

My Opinion

3 stars

I picked this up from a display at the library.  I was a Register subscriber (reading an actual paper newspaper daily that was delivered to my doorstep!) during the time Moranville was their food critic so I have that familiarity besides the nostalgia of also visiting a few of these eateries during my childhood.

Taking notes as I read shows my decline of enjoyment as I read this book.  In the beginning I noted how thoughtful she is about negative reviews and how I appreciated her recognition of Iowa diners (as in the people eating, not the style of restaurant) and what they are typically looking for in an experience.  Then about midway through the note became yikes as she wrote about portion sizes, obesity, and how people visiting would comment on how unpleasant (she even used the word "noxious") the meal sizes were.  Then the note was oh no it really went downhill as she talked about returning from France each summer struggling to get back into the Iowa cuisine of "a bucket of lettuce followed by the usual plates of undistinguished overabundance" and how she had to write seemingly positive reviews because of what people wanted here "even if [she] thought they deserved better".

So why 3 stars?  Because the writing is fine and my personal reaction to her opinions doesn't negate the enjoyment I had at the beginning of the book.  I'm not talking about negative reviews she's written, I'm talking about the seemingly negative feelings she had about her community.

Talk about biting the hand that literally fed her.  It left a bad taste in my mouth.  All puns intended. 

How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England

 Book 4 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 2 - 8

How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts by Ruth Goodman

published 2018

Summary (excerpt from book jacket)

Drawing from advice manuals, court cases, and sermons, [Ruth Goodman] offers a veritable how-to guide for both the cheeky and the downright cunning. Social mores of the era are revealed in fascinating detail, including why it was bad form to quote Shakespeare; why nose-blowing was disgusting, but spitting was acceptable; [and] why curses hurled at women were almost always about sex (and why we shouldn't be surprised).

My Opinion

2 stars

I added this book to my list after seeing it on TikTok.  Bonus that my used copy was withdrawn from the Longwood Public Library in NY (I'm in Iowa).  Unfortunately it was mostly a miss for me.  There were interesting snippets but it wasn't 'pages and pages per topic' interesting for me.

The shortest "fun fact" I took away was that buttons and the color pink started out as things only for men's garments so according to Elizabethan England, we all could be accused of cross-dressing pretty much every day.

This had no affect on my rating but as a reader who skims, the number of times the author used "niggling" or "niggles" made me stop and double check every time to make sure I hadn't wandered into something racist.  I know they're words unrelated to race but they're not ones I see often so it jolted me.

Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments

 Book 3 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 4 - 6

Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T.L. Huchu

published 2022

Summary (via the book jacket)

Ropa Moya's ghostalking practice has tanked. Desperate for money to pay bills and look after her family, she reluctantly accepts a job to look into the history of a coma patient receiving treatment at the magical private hospital Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments. The patient is a teenage schoolboy called Max Wu, and healers at the hospital are baffled by his illness, which has confounded medicine and magic.

Roma's investigation leads her to the Edinburgh Ordinary School for Boys, one of only four registered schools for magic in the whole of Scotland (the oldest and the only one that remains closed to female students).

But the headmaster there is hiding something, and as more students succumb, Ropa learns that a long-dormant and malevolent entity has once again taken hold in this world.

She sets off to track the current host for this spirit and try to stop it before other lives are endangered.

My Opinion

2 stars

I was hesitant starting this because I didn't absolutely love the first one but I finished it and had this second one immediately available so I decided to give it a try.  If I was reading it on its own I'd probably give it 3 stars but I liked it less than The Library of the Dead so I dropped it to a 2 to reflect that.

There wasn't much character building in this book and the dynamics of the characters was why I was interested in continuing.  As far as the mysteries themselves, there were some surprises but it also felt like a lot of buildup for anticlimactic resolutions.

There are definitely readers out there for this series but unfortunately, I'm not one of them and won't be continuing.

The Library of the Dead

 Book 2 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from January 1 - 4

The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu

published 2021

Summary (via the book jacket)

Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker - and she now speaks to Ediburgh's dead, carrying messages to those they left behind. A girl's gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead begin to whisper that someone's bewitching children - leaving them husks, empty of joy and life. It's in Ropa's city, so she feels honor bound to investigate. But what she learns will change her world.

She'll dice with death (not part of her life plan), discovering an occult library and a taste for hidden magic. She'll also experience dark times. For Edinburgh hides a wealth of secrets, and Ropa's gonna hunt them all down.

My Opinion

3 stars

Nothing to do with the book but the word "shit" was blocked out with green marker by a previous reader.  Either the book didn't have a lot of swearing or this one particular time was an issue because there weren't any other marks in the rest of the book.

I checked this book out based on the title and cover while browsing at the library.  It was in the Sci-Fi section and I really like sci-fi books that feel accessible; I'm not committing to 800 pages of world building by giving this a try.

It had a great start but the last half felt like it had too many "oops I don't know what happened but I'm ok" moments.  I did like the characters though.  I'm going to read the second book because I already have it checked out and I know it will be a quick read but if that hadn't been the case I don't think I would've sought it out to continue the series.

Southern Fried Sass

 Book 1 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from December 31 - January 2

Southern Fried Sass: a Queen's Guide to Cooking, Decorating, and Living Just a Little Extra by Ginger Minj

published 2023

My Opinion

5 stars

I'm rating this book 5 stars because it is exactly as advertised.  This book was at the top of my request list for Christmas.  Ginger Minj is an accomplished drag queen I mostly knew from Drag Race but after reading this book, I feel I know her much better.  I'm choosing "she/her" pronouns based on how she said she identifies while in drag.

I was pleasantly surprised by how in-depth this book was.  Although it was entertaining with glamorous photos, there was a lot of substance as well.  It just had a vibe of comfort and I felt calm while reading it.

The family photos were a great addition!  The recipes weren't my usual style of food but there were a few I copied down for later.  All of the recipes seemed accessible and well thought-out.  I'd also never heard of using two different kinds of potatoes while making mashed potatoes and it might change my life.